Gil Smart: Did deputies hold fire because Austin Harrouff is white?

Images from the scene of a double homicide in the 19000 block of SE Kokomo Lane in Tequesta on Aug. 16. Austin Harrouff is the suspect in the stabbing that took place in the evening of August 15, killing John Stevens III and Michelle Mishcon, according to the Martin County Sheriff's Office. Accident Scene Cleaners of Port St. Lucie were there to clean the house. (LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

Every so often you'll hear a politician call for a "honest national conversation on race." We never get around to having that conversation, and the implication usually is that this is the fault of the racists.

But I wonder if they're the only culprits.

You, of course, know all about the brutal murder of John Stevens III and Michelle Mishcon last week in southern Martin County. Austin Harrouff, 19, is alleged to have killed the couple and was reportedly biting off pieces of Stevens' face when deputies arrived on the scene. It took four deputies, and a K-9, to subdue Harrouff.

Why didn't they shoot him? Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said it was because deputies were afraid they might hit Stevens, whom they thought might still have been alive.

One prominent activist suggested there was a simpler reason: Austin Harrouff is white.

"Four different officers — despite the clear and obvious crimes that had taken place, despite the risks to their own safety — decided to surround Austin Harrouff and forcefully remove him, so that they could arrest him without shooting and killing him," wrote New York Post columnist Shaun King, a prominent voice in the Black Lives Matter movement, shortly after the attack. "What I know, and what many of you know too, is that had Austin Harrouff been black, he would've been shot and killed on sight."

King went on to cite the 2012 "Causeway Cannibal" incident in Miami where a black man named Rudy Eugene, found eating the face of a victim, was shot dead by police. King cited several other cases in which mentally disturbed, young African-American men — who hadn't harmed anyone — were gunned down by police.

I take the macro point. Law enforcement shootings of African-American suspects have become one of the pre-eminent political issues in this country, with good reason.

But King's not merely speaking in broad terms: He is saying that Martin County deputies who apprehended Harrouff would have killed him if he were black.

In effect, King is accusing these deputies of latent racism simply because they're "cops."

King's theme was picked up by other left-leaning outfits including the Miami New Times and Vice News, which interviewed Sheriff Snyder.

"The idea that our deputies would think, 'This is a white man, I can't shoot him, I should take more time,' it's unconscionable," Snyder said. "If you know my deputies, nobody would accuse them of that."

Meanwhile, social media exploded with similar accusations that Martin County deputies would obviously, necessarily have shot and killed Harrouff if his skin was a darker color.

As King put it in his column: "A part of the definition of white privilege is having options unique to you because of your skin. Clearly, those benefits even extend to a rampaging cannibal."

Is that fair, do you think?

Because it feels to me like King exploited our local tragedy and smeared these local deputies — my neighbors, and yours — to make his broader point.

And that broader point depends upon the notion that all cops are the same, a monolithic entity rather than a diverse group of individuals.

Now, are there cops out there — not necessarily just in Martin County — who would have fired on Harrouff if he were black? I'm sure there are.

There are cops out there who would have fired on him even though he was white. There are cops who are too quick on the trigger, there are racist cops, there are cops who do bad things and get protected by their unions, cops who get away with abuses because of a police culture that excuses their actions.

But there are good cops, too. And what King suggests is that they don't exist — not here, not anywhere.

Because cops are cops.

Is this how we foster a legitimate, honest national conversation on race by saying, "I know exactly what you would have done even though you didn't do it?"

Is this how you build bridges, by impugning individual officers who did nothing wrong — who, in fact, did everything right?

King subsequently tried to walk back his comments, telling Vice News that he merely hopes more officers can show restraint when it comes to dealing with people of color. So perhaps he should say exactly that in a subsequent column.

Because if we're ever going to have that honest national conversation about race, it's going to require honesty from everyone involved.

About Gil Smart

Gil Smart is a columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers and a member of the Editorial Board. His columns reflect his opinion. Readers may reach him at gil.smart@tcpalm.com, by phone at 772-223-4741 or via Twitter at @TCPalmGilSmart.